Subjective and penile plethysmography responses to aversion therapy for homosexuality: A partial replication

Forty patients were randomly assigned to receive apomorphine aversion or avoidance conditioning to reduce homosexual impulses. Prior to and following treatment, they were shown a film containing pictures of nude women preceded by pictures of a red circle and of nude men preceded by a green triangle. At 2 weeks following treatment, the patients showed significantly less penile volume increase to the pictures of men and penile volume decrease to the pictures of women, but no penile volume increase to the pictures of women. The changes in penile volume response of each patient correlated with the reduction in homosexual feeling he reported at follow-up 6 months later. There was no weakening of the change in penile volume responses at this time. Some statistically significant relationships were found between various measures of each patient's response to treatment and conditionability, but these were not present both at 2 weeks following treatment and at subsequent follow-up. Also, they differed from the relationships which were found to be statistically significant in an earlier study. It was concluded that they were chance relationships. Approximately half the patients reported possible or definite reduction in homosexual feeling and an increase in heterosexual feeling after 6 months or longer. The results are comparable with those of a previous study using apomorphine conditioning and aversion-relief therapy to treat homosexuality.     

Validity and ethics of penile circumference measures of sexual arousal: A response to McAnulty and Adams

In replying to my review of the validity and ethics of penile circumference responses (PCRs) as measures of sexual arousal McAnulty and Adams misinterpreted the review as claiming penile volume responses (PVRs) were superior to PCRs in assessing rapists and child molesters. No such claim was made. The lack of validity of PCR assessment of individual rapists and child molesters was emphasized because PCR but not PVR assessment is used in the treatment and legal evaluation of these subjects. PVRs are more sensitive than PCRs in assessing sexual orientation. Individual heterosexuals and homosexuals can be identified by their PVRs, but not their PCRs to pictures of nude men and women. Their identification by PCRs, requires use of the more powerful erotic stimuli of explicit homosexual and heterosexual activity. PVRs to pictures of nude men and women can also distinguish subjects according to their reported ratio of homosexual to heterosexual interest. PCRs to these pictures or to more powerful erotic stimuli cannot. The superior sensitivity of PVRs in assessing sexual orientation is of theoretical significance. Studies reporting that behavioral therapies reduced homosexual arousal relied on changes in PCRs to pictures of single nudes. Failure of PCRs to demonstrate bisexuality of feelings was used to argue such bisexuality did not exist. McAnulty and Adams claimed that consistent findings have emerged from PCR assessment of pedophiles. This is not substantiated by the references cited. McAnulty and Adams did not challenge the conclusion of my review that individual pedophiles and rapists cannot be identified from their PCRs. They nevertheless maintained that their individual PCR assessments should be used in the legal evaluation of these subjects.     

Heterosexual interest in homosexual males

Androphilic, ephebophilic, and homosexual pedophilic males were compared on heterosexual interest and arousal potential. The former was measured by the subjects' retrospective reports and the latter by penile responses to pictures of females. The penile responses of the ephebophilic and homosexual pedophilic groups to pictures of physically mature females were not different from those of androphilic males. In the present study as well as in an earlier one, the ephebophilic males responded significantly more to physically mature males than to physically mature females. Homosexual pedophilic males showed little difference in responses to physically mature males and females. In retrospective reports of heterosexual interest and experience and of development of homosexual interest and activities, there were only two differences among the groups: as opposed to androphilic males, a relatively greater number of ephebophilic and homosexual pedophilic males indicated that up to age 15 or later they had felt attracted exclusively to females and that they had been seduced in childhood or early adolescence by a male. These results will have to be replicated before being accepted as reliable. As in some earlier studies, there was a weak but significant correlation of degree of feminine gender identity with age at onset of homosexual interest and with heterosexual interest or experience. A higher degree of feminine gender identity went together with less heterosexual interest and experience and with an earlier onset of homosexual interest and experience.This study was supported by Ontario Mental Health Foundation Grant No. 403 and was carried out at the Alex G. Brown Memorial Clinic of the Ontario Ministry of Corrections, at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto, Canada, and at Atascadero State Hospital, Atascadero, California.     

Viewing Time as a Measure of Bisexual Sexual Interest

Studies of bisexual sexual interest have focused mostly on measures of genital arousal in bisexual men and have generally failed to find evidence of a bisexual pattern of genital arousal. Bisexual women have rarely been studied and other measures of sexual interest have not been used to study bisexual interest in either sex. In this study, we examined a non-genital measure of sexual interest, viewing time, among 16 bisexual men, 19 bisexual women, 15 heterosexual men, 15 heterosexual women, 15 homosexual men, and 10 homosexual women. Sexual orientation was determined from a self-report questionnaire. Stimuli were pictures of males and females of all five Tanner stages of sexual development. Participants were asked to rate the sexual appeal of the individuals depicted in the pictures, while the time taken to provide a response was covertly measured. Using a signed index that compared viewing times to pictures of sexually mature males and females, bisexual men and bisexual women did not look longer at pictures of one gender, whereas the other four groups had longer viewing times for pictures of one gender. Using an absolute index, the three groups of women showed a similar (and low) degree of gender preference. All groups showed longer viewing times for sexually mature individuals than for sexually immature individuals, suggesting that the viewing time responses of bisexual men and women were not produced by a general tendency to look indiscriminately at all pictures. There were small to moderate correlations between viewing times and rated sexual appeal in all groups. Results suggest that viewing time can be used to detect a bisexual pattern of sexual interest in bisexual men and bisexual women.     

Older-sibling and younger-sibling sex ratios in Frisch and Hviid's (2006) national cohort study of two million Danes

Frisch and Hviid (2006) recently reported a study of variables that predicted heterosexual and homosexual marriage in a national cohort of Danish men and women. They found no evidence that older brothers increase the probability that a man will legally marry another man. They concluded that their data raise questions about the universality of the widely confirmed finding that older brothers increase the probability that a man will be sexually oriented towards other men (the fraternal birth order effect). In the present article, Frisch and Hviid's data were reanalyzed using one of the procedures that have been used in prior studies of fraternal birth order. The results showed that the sex ratio of older brothers to older sisters was significantly higher than the expected value of 106 in all four of their study groups (heterosexually married men, homosexually married men, heterosexually married women, and homosexually married women). In contrast, the sex ratio of younger brothers to younger sisters approximated 106 in all four groups. According to this analysis, the only group whose data resembled data from previous studies was the homosexually married males. The writer concluded that one cannot interpret findings about the correlates of heterosexual and homosexual marriage as if they were findings about the correlates of heterosexual and homosexual orientation, and that this is underscored by comparing the markedly different older-sibling sex ratios obtained from heterosexually married persons (in the Danish study) and those obtained from heterosexually oriented persons (in previous studies). It is unclear what implications, if any, Frisch and Hviid's findings have for the study of sexual orientation in general.     

Older-Sibling and Younger-Sibling Sex Ratios in Frisch and Hviid’s (2006) National Cohort Study of Two Million Danes

Frisch and Hviid (2006) recently reported a study of variables that predicted heterosexual and homosexual marriage in a national cohort of Danish men and women. They found no evidence that older brothers increase the probability that a man will legally marry another man. They concluded that their data raise questions about the universality of the widely confirmed finding that older brothers increase the probability that a man will be sexually oriented towards other men (the fraternal birth order effect). In the present article, Frisch and Hviid’s data were reanalyzed using one of the procedures that have been used in prior studies of fraternal birth order. The results showed that the sex ratio of older brothers to older sisters was significantly higher than the expected value of 106 in all four of their study groups (heterosexually married men, homosexually married men, heterosexually married women, and homosexually married women). In contrast, the sex ratio of younger brothers to younger sisters approximated 106 in all four groups. According to this analysis, the only group whose data resembled data from previous studies was the homosexually married males. The writer concluded that one cannot interpret findings about the correlates of heterosexual and homosexual marriage as if they were findings about the correlates of heterosexual and homosexual orientation, and that this is underscored by comparing the markedly different older-sibling sex ratios obtained from heterosexually married persons (in the Danish study) and those obtained from heterosexually oriented persons (in previous studies). It is unclear what implications, if any, Frisch and Hviid’s findings have for the study of sexual orientation in general.     

Patterns of Sexual Arousal in Homosexual,Bisexual, and Heterosexual Men

The purpose of this study was to determine if self-identified bisexual, heterosexual, and homosexual men show differential genital and subjective arousal patterns to video presentations of bisexual, heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian sexual interactions. It was predicted that, relative to heterosexual and homosexual stimuli, bisexual men would show the highest levels of sexual arousal to bisexual erotic material, while this stimulus would induce relatively low levels of response in heterosexual and homosexual men. A sample of 59 men (19 homosexual, 13 bisexual, and 27 heterosexual) were presented with a series of 4-min sexual videos while their genital and subjective sexual responses were measured continuously. Bisexual men did not differ significantly in their responses to male homosexual stimuli (depicting men engaging in sex) from homosexual men, and they did not differ significantly in their responses to heterosexual (depicting two women, without same-sex contact, engaged in sex with a man) and lesbian (depicting women engaging in sex) stimuli from heterosexual men. However, bisexual men displayed significantly higher levels of both genital and subjective sexual arousal to a bisexual stimulus (depicting a man engaged in sex with both a man and a woman) than either homosexual or heterosexual men. The findings of this study indicate that bisexuality in men is associated with a unique and specific pattern of sexual arousal.     

Penile volume responses to moving and still pictures of male and female nudes

Twelve medical students were shown two series of ten pictures of orange circles followed by pictures of nude females, alternating at 1-min intervals with ten pictures of blue triangles followed by pictures of nude males. All were shown for 10 sec. In one series, the pictures were moving and were inserted into a travelogue-type film; in the other, they were still, and still pictures of landscapes were shown in the intervals. Six students were randomly allocated to watch the moving sequences first; the other six watched the still sequences first. The summed penile volume increases of the students to the moving pictures of the women were significantly greater than those to the still pictures. Summed conditioned penile increases were also greater to the pictures of circles preceding these moving pictures compared with those to circles preceding the still pictures. Only the former conditioned responses correlated significantly with the unconditioned penile responses on which they were based. It was concluded that conditioned penile volume increases could be established more satisfactorily using moving rather than still pictures of female nudes as unconditioned stimuli. The summed penile response to ten such still stimuli nevertheless provided a reliable measure of the subjects' responsiveness.The research was supported by funds from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.     

Sex in Australia: sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual experience among a representative sample of adults

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of same-sex and opposite-sex attraction and experience in Australia and the prevalence of different sexual identities. METHOD: Computer-assisted telephone interviews were completed by a representative sample of 10,173 men and 9,134 women aged 16-59 years from all States and Territories of Australia. The overall response rate was 73.1% (men, 69.4%; women, 77.6%). Men and women were asked about their experience of same-sex and opposite-sex attraction and experience along with their sexual identity. The agreement and disagreement between sexual attraction and sexual experience were explored. RESULTS: Among men, 97.4% identified as heterosexual, 1.6% as gay or homosexual and 0.9% as bisexual. Among women, 97.7% identified as heterosexual, 0.8% as lesbian or homosexual and 1.4% as bisexual. Among men, 91.4% reported only opposite-sex attraction and experience, as did 84.9% of women. Thus, some same-sex attraction or experience was reported by 8.60% of men and 15.1% of women. Of men, 4.2% reported sexual attraction and sexual experience that was inconsistent, as did 8.2% of women. Factors associated with this agreement or disagreement included age group, non-English-speaking background, education and socio-economic status. CONCLUSION: Relatively few Australians reported a sexual identity other than heterosexual. However, both same-sex attraction and homosexual experience are more common than homosexual or bisexual identity would suggest. Reporting same-sex attraction or experience was associated with poorer mental health and is likely to reflect responses to homophobia in Australian society.     

Sexual Partner Age Preferences of Homosexual and Heterosexual Men and Women

The sexual age preferences of 192 adults (equal groups of heterosexual men, heterosexual women, homosexual men, and homosexual women) were examined. Participants rated the sexual attractiveness of pictures of 15 male and 15 female faces arranged into five apparent average age categories ranging from 18 to 60 years. It was predicted that homosexual and heterosexual men would prefer younger partners of their preferred sex than would homosexual and heterosexual women and that age preference would not vary with participant age. Both predictions were supported, although homosexual women preferred older partners than expected. Results suggest that age and sex preferences develop independently.     

A Possible Second Type of Maternal–Fetal Immune Interaction Involved in Both Male and Female Homosexuality

Recent research has found that the mothers of firstborn homosexual sons produce fewer subsequent offspring than do the mothers of firstborn heterosexual sons. It was hypothesized that a subset of mothers of firstborn homosexuals may be responsible for this finding. If there is a subset of mothers whose immune reactions cause their first male fetus to be homosexual and their subsequent fetuses to die, then their immune reactions should also cause their first male fetus to have a lower birth weight. This leads to the prediction that, within the population of firstborn homosexual men, those with no younger siblings should also tend to have lower birth weights. This prediction was tested using a previously published sample of 1,445 firstborn subjects: 929 heterosexual females, 47 homosexual females, 409 heterosexual males, and 60 homosexual males. The results showed that firstborn homosexuals with no younger siblings (i.e., only children) did have lower birth weights compared with all the other subjects, but the finding applied to firstborn lesbian women as well as firstborn gay men.     

Unresolved Issues in Scientific Sexology

A number of unresolved issues in sexologyresearch and practice are reviewed. Penile volumeassessment of sexual arousal has consistently provedmore sensitive than penile circumference assessment andrequires much shorter exposure to the erotic stimulieliciting the arousal, reducing the subjects' ability tomodify their responses. Failure to acknowledge this hasallowed acceptance of evidence based on penile circumference assessment that behavioraltreatments such as directed masturbation can increasethe ability of sex offenders to be heterosexuallyaroused and aversive therapy can reduce their devianturges whereas penile volume assessment indicatesthese procedures are ineffective. A randomizedcontrolled trial of relapse prevention versus notreatment for sex offenders found more treated thanuntreated subjects reoffended after a mean follow-up period of 4years. Researchers and therapists accepted that a posthoc statistical manipulation of the results providedevidence of a treatment effect. Subsequently it has been recommended that randomized controlledevaluations of treatments of sex offenders be abandoned.Meta-analysis of outcome studies has been useduncritically. The majority of men and women who report homosexual feelings and/or behavior reportpredominant heterosexual feelings and behavior and donot identify as homosexual. These consistent findingsremain ignored. Studies of the etiology and development of homosexuality and heterosexuality treat themas distributed categorically rather than dimensionallyand investigate only self-identified homosexuals andheterosexuals. With this methodology the predominantly heterosexual majority are excluded ormisclassified. The belief that the European concept ofthe homosexual is a late 19th-century invention is basedon an inadequate reading of literature. Limitations of the DSM classification of sexual and genderidentity disorders are pointed out. The validity ofself-report of sexual behavior has been questioned onthe basis that men report a markedly higher average number of sexual partners than women. Possiblesex differences in reporting the number of partners whoare of the same sex, casual, or perpetrators or victimsof sexual coercion and child abuse have not been taken into account. Failure of sexology toprogress due to lack of resolution of conflicting issuesmay contribute to the low impact factor of itsjournals.     

AIDS and heterosexual anal intercourse

Heterosexual anal intercourse is rarely discussed in the scientific literature. Review of the literature suggests the silence is linked to ethnocentric discomfort about it among researchers and health care providers, coupled with the misconception that anal sex is a homosexual male practice, not heterosexual. Review of surveys of sexual practices suggest that heterosexual anal intercourse is far more common than generally realized, more than 10% of American women and their male consorts engaging in the act with some regularity. Sexually transmitted disease (STD) data, especially where only the rectum is infected with gonorrhea or other STD agents, buttresses survey data. Considerably more heterosexuals engage in the act than do homosexual and bisexual men, not all of whom participate in anal coitus. Anal intercourse carries an AIDS risk for women greater than that for vaginal coitus, just as receptive anal intercourse carries a very high risk for males. Infection with the AIDS virus is increasingly documented in women engaging in anal coitus with infected males, in America, Europe, and Latin America. Women in Western countries are less likely to continue HIV infectivity chains than are males engaging in same-gender anal intercourse.     

Sex in Australia: homosexual experience and recent homosexual encounters

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and features of homosexual experience and recent homosexual encounters among a representative sample of Australian adults. METHODS: Computer-assisted telephone interviews were completed by a representative sample of 10,173 men and 9,134 women aged 16-59 years from all States and Territories. The overall response rate was 73.1% (69.4% among men and 77.6% among women). RESULTS: Overall, 8.6% of women and 5.9% of men reported some homosexual sexual experience in their lives (p<0.001); these figures fell to 5.7% and 5.0% respectively (p=0.106) when non-genital sexual experience was excluded. 1.9% of men and 1.5% of women reported homosexual experience in the past year. Men who reported homosexual experience reported more same-sex partners than did women (means 31.6 and 3.2, p<0.001), and men and women who identified as homosexual or bisexual reported more sexual partners in total than those who identified as heterosexual. Respondents reporting homosexual experience were significantly more likely to be from an English-speaking background, have higher levels of education, live in a major city, and report a white-collar or managerial/professional occupation. Women who reported homosexual experience were less likely to have a middle or high income. In the most recent homosexual encounter, genital touching was the most commonly reported practice, and oral sex was reported much more frequently than in heterosexual encounters. CONCLUSION: Homosexually and bisexually identified men and women had higher total numbers of partners than heterosexuals. Improved societal attitudes towards homosexuality are likely to lead to further increases in estimates of the prevalence of homosexual experience in the community.     

Implicit Sexual Associations in Heterosexual and Homosexual Women and Men

Patterns of genital arousal to sexual stimuli are somewhat different between men and women. Heterosexual males and homosexual males show clear category specific arousal that is consistent with their self-reported sexual preference. However, heterosexual women do not show this category specificity. In the present study, we attempted to measure a person’s automatic appraisals of stimuli with respect to the concept of sex via the use of implicit measures (the Implicit Association Test and the priming task). In three experiments, we showed that heterosexual females did not show a sex-related category specific response in favor of male versus female stimuli. However, this lack of specificity was not due to a lack of sex-related appraisals, but by equal appraisals of both male and female stimuli. On the other hand, heterosexual men, homosexual men, and homosexual women all showed automatic sex-related appraisals of stimuli that were category specific and in line with their self-reported sexual preference. The study shows difference in the pattern of sexual interest between genders at the earliest stages of the evaluation of a stimulus.     

Multiple Aspects of Sexual Orientation: Prevalence and Sociodemographic Correlates in a New Zealand National Survey

Sexual orientation consists of multiple components. This study investigated both sexual identity and same-sex sexual behavior. Data came from the New Zealand Mental Health Survey, a nationally representative community sample of New Zealanders aged 16 years or older, interviewed face-to-face (N = 12,992, 48% male). The response rate was 73.3%. Self-reported sexual identity was 98.0% heterosexual, 0.6% bisexual, 0.8% homosexual, 0.3% “Something else,” and 0.1% “Not sure.” Same-sex sexual behavior with a partner was more common: 3.2% reported same-sex sexual experience only and 1.9% reported both experience and a relationship. For analysis of childhood and lifecourse, five sexuality groups were investigated: homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual divided into those with no same-sex sexual experience, experience only, and experience and relationship. The non-exclusively heterosexual groups were more likely to have experienced adverse events in childhood. Educational achievement and current equivalized household income did not differ systematically across the sexuality groups. Only 9.4% of the exclusively heterosexual lived alone, compared with 16.7% of bisexuals and 19.0% of homosexuals. Heterosexuals were more likely than bisexuals or homosexuals to have ever married or had biological children, with differences more marked for males than for females. Heterosexuals with no same-sex sexual experience were more likely to be currently married than the other two heterosexual groups. Restricting comparisons to heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual identification ignores the diversity within heterosexuals. Differences between the bisexual and homosexual groups were small compared with the differences between these groups and the exclusively heterosexual group, except for sex (80.8% of bisexuals were female).     

Body Image Satisfaction in Heterosexual,Gay, and Lesbian Adults

Does the prevalence and degree of body dissatisfaction differ among heterosexual and homosexual men and women? Some theorists have suggested that, compared to their heterosexual peers, gay men are at greater risk for body dissatisfaction and lesbians at lower risk. Past studies examining this issue have generally relied on small samples recruited from gay or lesbian groups. Further, these studies have sometimes produced conflicting results, particularly for comparisons of lesbian and heterosexual women. In the present research, we compared body satisfaction and comfort with one’s body during sexual activity among lesbian women, gay men, heterosexual women, and heterosexual men through two large online studies (Ns = 2,512 and 54,865). Compared to all other groups, heterosexual men reported more positive evaluations of their appearance, less preoccupation with their weight, more positive effects of their body image on their quality of life and the quality of their sex life, more comfort wearing a swimsuit in public, and greater willingness to reveal aspects of their body to their partner during sexual activity. Few significant differences were found among gay men, lesbian women, and heterosexual women. Many gay men (42%) reported that their feelings about their body had negative effects on the quality of their sex life, as did some lesbian women (27%), heterosexual women (30%), and heterosexual men (22%). Overall, the findings supported the hypothesis that gay men are at greater risk than heterosexual men for experiencing body dissatisfaction. There was little evidence that lesbian women experience greater body satisfaction than heterosexual women.     

Autonomic responses of transsexual and homosexual males to erotic film sequences

Penile volume and galvanic skin responses to nude female and male film sequences were studied in 40 transsexual patients, 44 patients requesting treatment for homosexual impulses, and 60 heterosexual students. Student controls and homosexuals showed significantly greater galvanic skin responses to the preferred than to the nonpreferred sex. Transsexuals tended to show larger galvanic skin responses to females than did male homosexuals. No strong relationships were found between penile volume and galvanic skin responses to the preferred sex. It is concluded that transsexual patients differ significantly from homosexual patients in autonomic responsivity, which may have diagnostic usefulness.